CNN’s Manu Raju Can’t Help Laughing Trying to Report on Trump’s Claims He Doesn’t Want to Repeal Obamacare
CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju found former President Donald Trump’s campaign trail claims he doesn’t want to repeal Obamacare laughable — literally, cracking up in the middle of his report on CNN News Central on Thursday.
A video clip of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) saying that “health care reform” would be a “big part” of “a very aggressive first hundred days agenda” in a potential second Trump term — including “no Obamacare” — has reignited the debate about the Affordable Care Act in the final days before the election.
Raju interviewed Johnson about his comments and told the panel that Johnson had “claimed they don’t want to repeal the Affordable Care Act at all,” but Republicans have “spent years trying to kill” the law. Still, Johnson struck “a much different tune yesterday” when he interviewed him, cueing up the video clip.
If Trump is re-elected and the GOP retains majority control of the House, does that agenda “include repealing the ACA?” Raju asked.
“No,” Johnson said in the video clip. “This has been ascribed to me — that is not what I said.” He insisted that Republicans were “laser-focused on improving health care,” and talked at length about “plans” and “lots of ideas.”
Johnson’s claims, said Raju, “just shows you how concerned Republicans are about these comments, about Obamacare being an issue this late in the campaign.”
Trump himself had posted on his Truth Social account about Vice President Kamala Harris’s criticism of Johnson’s “no Obamacare” comments, lashing out at “Lyin’ Kamala” for “saying that I want to end the Affordable Care Act. I never mentioned doing that, never even thought about such a thing.”
Raju cracked up as he read that post and pointed out that there was plenty of evidence to the contrary just from the first two years of Trump’s presidency, when Republicans had control of Congress.
“They tried very hard to repeal Obamacare!” said Raju, pointing to the “infamous moment on the Senate floor, when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) gave a thumbs down as he voted against a partial repeal, “and Trump spent years berating McCain over that — to this day, still does!”
Watch the clip above via CNN.
